A blog set up by 40k enthusiasts, for 40k enthusiasts.
Concentrating on the competitive side of the hobby, but in no way limited to it.

Friday, 13 September 2013

Warrington GT Tournament Report

Had a great weekend at the Warrington GT, played 6 tough
games against 6 fun opponents, but man it was hard.

I had read before that this was one of the most competitive
tournaments in the UK, and I can see why. It seemed like about a third of the
field had played in the ETC at one time or another, and the lists were just
brutal (I played a 3 Wraithknight list, and a 9 Broadside one … neither of
which went well!). Still, didn’t play any idiots and had 6 fun games. When the
dust settled I went 3-0-3 and came 27th out of (I think) about 50
people … what can I say – mid table obscurity! I was nominated for best painted
however, and I came 3rd on player voting, which was pleasing.

Usual format, (very) brief bat reps, and some general
thoughts.

Game 1

Against Necrons. He had a big block of immortals with mini
lord, a bunch of Cryptecs with weird stuff, a devastation barge (I think – the
one with the BSG – Big Scary Gun), 2 Annihilation Barges, 4 sets of Wariors in
Scythes, and a Destroyer Lord.

Long story short I killed pretty much everything. The
pivotal turn was turn 2 when all his flyers came on ….. and I shot three of
them out the sky. Tau really are the hard counter to Necron Flyers.

The tournament had a really weird scoring system which I
never really got my head around. We had to get a judge over to explain it! I
won 18-2

Game 2

Against the ultimate winner of the whole event – 3
Wraithknights (one of which was his Warlord), 4 wave serpents with dire
avengers inside, and a Skyshield Landing Pad.

He sets up the serpents behind the landing pad for a 2+
cover save (the FAQ ruled it as a fortification granting a 3+, and with holo
fields…..! Combine that with the FAQ ruling that “Ignores Cover” does not
effect vehicles and Wave Serpents were pretty much unkillable!) The
Wraithknights went on top of the pad. I got first turn and killed the Warlord
Wraithknight for first blood and slay the warlord … but that’s all I killed for
the rest of the game … and he tabled me…sigh!

This was good game (despite being tabled), my opponent was a
great guy, and we had fun. HOWEVER, I think this game illustrates why
tournaments organisers need to think carefully about FAQs. Now, I don’t want to
argue rules interpretations. I know the Ignores Cover rule is controversial, as
is the question of whether the Skyshield is a fortification or not. My point is
rather that TO’s need to think beyond what is right or wrong, but rather what
is balanced.

Does it really make sense to make something as powerful as a
Wave Serpents even more powerful, by giving it a 2+ cover save, and then
disallowing the only way to negate that cover save! And to be fair to my
opponent, he agreed. He was actually trying to make exactly that point by
taking the list he took.

I go first turn and killed a unit of Broadsides for first
blood and an extra VP for killing a Heavy Support unit. In his turn pretty much
all his shooting either missed or bounced off … until almost the last shot of
the turn. He fired an Overcharged Ion Accelerator shot at the Ethereal’s
Devilfish. It hit, clipping a Riptide and some marker Drones. He puts a wound
on the Riptide, and kills the Drones. He pens the Devilfish, I fail a 3+ cover
save, he rolls a “6” and blows up the ‘fish, and only one of the Firewarriors
and the Ethereal survive. The blast kills 3 more marker Drones. Sigh….!

It all went down hill after that!

Game 4

When I saw my opponents army I knew I was going to struggle
…. it was specifically designed to kill Tau. His list was a combination of
Blood Angles and Space Wolves in 7 drop pods (with supporting Land Speeders and
a pack of Long Fangs). However the key was that he had 2 Rune Priests with
Jaws, 2 BA Libbys with Fear the Darkness and blood lance, and 2 Libby Dreads
with Fear the Darkness and blood lance … oh dear!

Long story short I screwed up my deployment, and left 2 gaps
he could thread pods into, that got him inside 24”. It was risky, because they
were right on the board edge, and he needed to “hit” or he would scatter off
the board … but he hit. TBH I really needed the third Kroot squad to bulk up
the bubble wrap. I had to contract my deployment to make sure all the vehicles
were within 12” of the Riptide with the Talisman of Arthas Morloch, and that
meant I couldn’t push back the pods far enough with the 2 Kroot Squads I had.

Having said that, the Talisman was awesome. On turn one I
denied 5 out of the 6 psychic powers, but the last Fear got through, the
Riptide with the Talisman, failed his leadership test, and ran off the board
(he had first turn so I couldn’t get “Stubborn” off from the Ethereal before
the power hit).

I tried my best to claw it back, and killed a fair bit of
his army, but once the Talisman Riptide ran off the board, Fear and Jaws ran
riot.

Game 5

Against a Grey Knight list – 2 Stormravens, 10 Terminators,
and a bunch of Grey Knights and acolytes lead by Coteaz.

My opponent deployed poorly and one Ion Acceleraotr blast
killed 3 terminators and 6 Grey knights. The terminators then broke and ran off
the board. Luck was just not with my opponent. The Heavy Burst Cannon
intercepted one Stormraven, on turn 2 blowing it out the sky, and killed the
other one when it came in on turn 3.

I tabled my opponents for the loss of one gun drone!

Game 6

Against Eldar and guard (with only one serpent, and no
Wraithknights!). This was a tighter game, but I just had too much fire power.

High point (for me) was both Kroot Squads outflanking behind
the Wave Serpent and knocking 2 Hull Points off the Serpent. My opponent then
disembarked the Wraithguard that were in the Serpent, to deal with the
Kroot. So, while not killing either the Serpent or the Guard, 130pts of Kroot
effectively took both of them out the game.

Conclusion

I think I’m getting the hang of the list now. I’m making
fewer mistakes (although far from flawless) and beginning to get a feel for
what it can and can’t do. So what worked and what didn’t

What Worked

·The Raven Commander worked well. Being
able to jump him between the Double Death Rain Squad and the HBC Riptide
allowed me to get the full benefit from his wargear, The stim injector was a
good option. I made quite a few FNP saves.

·The HBC Riptide, with Earth Caste Pilot
Array. This guy was really effective. The ECPA is made for the Heavy Burst
Cannon, almost guaranteeing the Heavy 12, Rending profile on the HBC. Adding 4
extra shots, and rending, makes the HBC very effective against almost anything.
Combining this guy with the Raven Commander made him particularly deadly.

·Ion Accelerator Riptide. As always, the
low AP shooting this provides was invaluable.

·Double Death Rain Marker Squad. This is a
great combination, particularly when combined with the Raven Commander. Being
able to land 6 marker light hits, and then drop a S8 AP2 large blast on the
target, which is very unlikely to scatter is really good.

What wasn’t so effective?

·Fire Warriors. It’s interesting, at past
tournaments the Fire Warriors were star performers. However, in this
environment they weren’t that effective. The problem is their fragility, and
the fact they make up 2 of 5 scoring units. What this means is that they tended
to stay in their ‘fish for far too long, not really contributing until they jumped
out and killed maybe one thing, mid to late game. So my list has 400pts tied up
in fire warriors (if you include their ‘fish) which only really contribute for
2 or 3 turns.

·Kroot. I think I’m using Kroot wrong. I
was running 2 units of 10 as harassment/cheap scoring/ bubble wrap. I’m
beginning to wonder if running them in bigger packs might be more effective.

·Skyrays. Still undecided about
Skyrays. They were great in the games where I played flyers, and were great for
one turn, but after that….! On the whole, for their points, they are a sound
unit, just not star performers.

My next Tournament is Rapid Fire at 1850pts, but with no
allies. I think I want to try something a little different.

1 comment:

I'm going to have to get a second HQ (at the moment I only use an Etheral), so I can add in the Farsight Enclaves as allies. The talismen and earth caste pilot are just too good to pass up, but moving a crisis suit unit from elites to troops is also nice.

Nice to see the MarkerRain team work well. I'm planning to use a versin without the commander, so it's nice to see the concept work :)